Meadows Rebuts Rip-off Claim

Film critics were on the receiving end of some heavy criticism by one of the UK’s leading film directors yesterday, who took the opportunity of a Q&A session at the Edinburgh International Film Festival to rebut an accusation that he had copied an idea from a TV series for a short film.

‘This is England’ director, Shane Meadows, was speaking about Le Donk, which he and producer, Mark Herbert, made in just a few days, using a modest camera, a single boom microphone and with each of the crew doing around six jobs.

Le Donk is about a down-at-heel roadie called Nicholas who leads a shabby suburban life.

In response to an accusation, by at least one journalist, that Le Donk was a rip-off of Steve Coogan’s Saxondale, Meadows said it was the other way around.